NYE Morning

Still a little crusty

He gets feisty in a hurry.

A Little Belated Christmas Tidbit

Ok so I was a ninny and forgot my camera at home, but don't worry, Michelle wasn't a ninny and remembered hers. I'll have some good shots of our holiday soon enough.

We got home in a flurry late last night because Jude was getting sick fast.  The poor boy was miserable.  The 3 of us were first at the doc's this morning and he's on some good old fashioned anti-biotics now.  We are getting the house put back together, Jude is taking a record-long sick nap, and I am uploading some of the tester pics I hastily took this afternoon with my splendid, new 50 mm lens!!!!!!!!!!!!

And I had to post these pictures of Jude and one of his presents we didn't haul to Utah:

The infamous Costco 53" plush bear.  So cheap, so the dream for a little child.  Baby brother may have one waiting in his nursery too.  He was giggling when we pulled it out and gave it a multitude of hugs. 

Look at that face fighting to enjoy life through the illness.  At least the green crusties are no longer completely bombarding his face.  Conjunctivitis and an ear infection had made this one so glassy and sad, but today he was being such a stud.  He has so much zest packed into his frame, he can't help but ham it up.  I never knew I could love a little boy so much.   

Merry Christmas

Hello, holiday pregnancy insomnia -- we meet again.

The fact that it is 4:51 am and I've been awake for the past 2 hours is probably partially to do with the fact that in just a couple of hours I get to witness first hand Jude's reaction to his remote control car. It's a bit above his age but I am pretty sure he's going to spaz out to unprecedented levels when he sees this big truck rolling all around at the remote controlled hands of his pop. Jeff might have also  been near excitement explosion when we tried it out tonight to make sure it worked. :)

On saturday at 2:45 am I woke up, brushed my little teeth, threw the cooler in th car, woke up my boys, and we departed for Utah. My reasoning behind the nocturnal road tripping was that this way Jude would sleep for 3, maybe 4 hours of the drive as opposed to 1.5 when he took his nap. The plan worked and while it was not 100% without whining, the drive went pretty smoothly. I stayed awake and got us to Primm while Jeff and Jude slept, and then he finished off the drive. I don't think it had occurred to Jude that his parents sleep too (and much more enthusiastically). When my pilot shift was over, I reclined the seat and snoozed like the dead while Jude watched some shows on the iPad strapped to the seat in front of him, and every time I groggily handed him back something he'd dropped or needed, he was looking at me with this curious and slightly bemused expression, like it was half silly and half crazy I was relishing in my rest so much, or even getting it all.

Utah has been fabulous. We have been blanketed in snow, Jude is having a blast with cousins, I've been intrigued by the cousin pecking order and dynamics that have emerged since the last visit, Stevens hot chocolate is the best in the world, and we've got friend and more family visits and outings coming up.  I'm so glad we are here.

And, since insomnia can make for rash decisions, I just ordered myself a DVD of Jane Eyre to help get me through the future all nighters with the baby that is currently kicking my insides. (Thanks to my dad we now get free amazon prime free shipping.)

Last Week

The holidays have been busy!  Just like we like em.  However, this also means I'm wiped clean of energy and have about 12 batches of English Toffee to make now that Jude is down for the night, there is clean laundry waiting to be laid to rest in drawers but has sat in a laundry basket for the last 2 days, I have Thank You notes to write from my baby shower, and the list continues. 

We have had so much fun, though, and as excited as I am for my boys to open their Christmas presents in a week, I will be so sorry to see this season come to an end.

Now for a tiny recap:

We went to a White Elephant party hosted by our friends the Ords.  All the girls you see in this picture are pregnant and uncomfortable.   

I'm wearing a poncho smock that I probably will continue to wear for the next million days.  It's like wearing a blanket.  Can't hurt.

This is our 5th Christmas together; these 5 have been my favorites.

The baby's room is coming together.  This room used to be the precise color of a band-aid, and I hated it with a loathsome hate, strapped on my energy boots, and painted the room "cloud white" by Benjamin Moore all by my bad self.  On Saturday we picked up the crib, since I am leaving Jude in his own crib as long as he wants to be there/is unable to climb out.  This new crib was about 30 times easier and faster to assemble than Jude's.  So nice.  When the room is finished I will post pictures.  We must love our kids because our room is empty except for the bed and a headboard, but we do our best to fill the boys' rooms to make them cozy.

This is one of my favorite Jude pictures to date.  Brainfreeze!  Jude would marry smoothies if he could.

I had a somuchfun shower on Saturday!  I love these ladies that came on the busiest Saturday and so, so generously poured out gifts for me and my little boy.  I felt spoiled and loved.  Please note the blanket I'm wearing in this picture, too.  See?  I live in it.  I'll probably be wearing this in next year's Christmas card picture.

This boy is cracking me up.  He freaks out over every single Christmas lightbulb, every single car on the road, waves at every single person we pass (or that drives by), he squats down, arms up in the air, and war whoops when a delivery or garbage truck is close, gives me hugs and kisses like they're going out of style, comes and tickles me when he knows he's done something naughty and I'm about to begin my intervention/talking to/threatening time-out, feeds me bites of his food, sometimes holds my hand, and is the best pal.  We spend all our time together and while it can be a lot of work, he makes my heart sing a pile of songs an hour.

I'm noting this stuff down, be it interesting or not.

• Jeff and I both fell asleep watching The Avengers.  For the past few months I am the one who falls asleep during everything on the screen before us, but there was a disconnect between the widely hailed 2012 movie and Mr. and Mrs. Hayes.
• This phase is slowly drawing to a close, but for a while Jude would answer "No" to any question he was asked, partly because he didn't know how to say anything along the lines of "Yes".  He says "no" in a variety of inflections and intensities, but my favorite is when it comes out slow and calm and a with a little bit of an English accent.  Anyway, we had a lot of fun with the constant "No."  Jude, do you want to go to the park?  No. Jude, do you want some candy? No.  One day we were walking home from the park (or rather I was walking, and carrying Jude).  He, being the ultimate in sweetness, nuzzled his head under my chin and started patting my arm.  I said, "Jude, we definitely love you."  In his tired little English voice that was ready for lunch, "Nooo."  "Oh yes we do!" "Noooo."  I chuckled, and with my little monkey snuggled up and meaning nothing by his responses, I was in heaven. 
• A few weeks ago Jeff and I were watching Violet during Sacrament Meeting while her mom taught a class in another ward/congregation and her dad was out of town on business.  I thought it would be easy enough.  As church started things quickly unraveled.  Jude didn't like seeing Violet on my lap.  Jeff took Violet and Jude came up on my lap (which is almost completely taken up by my son in utero).  Jude didn't like seeing Violet on Jeff's lap and worse: Violet had snacks and Jude wanted them.  I went digging through my purse for Jude's snacks and Jude lunged and bonked his head.  Violet in the meantime was beginning to wonder where her mom had been the last 5 minutes.  In unison both started to wail, and Jeff and I made a clumsy mass exodus from the chapel.  I might mention that as I got up my purse was knocked off its resting place next to me (passive voice) and fell face down.  And it's not awesome picking things up off the ground while holding 30 lb. Jude, and being pregnant, but it's often unavoidable and I'm begrudgingly  used to it.  Anyway, we've got to work out a more smooth method for swiftly leaving a meeting with more than one noisy child, because once Jeff and I reached the foyer we sighed and said to each other, "A preview."  
• Jude's favorite song for the past few months has been Ho Hey by The Lumineers and it can always perk him up.  Behind just a beat, he will grunt out each "Ho" and "Hey". 
• We are loving Christmastime, and every morning Jude requests that I turn on the tree lights.  When I do I get a "Whoa" and it's cute and worth the electricity.  I'm hoping that next year he'll remember some things from this year, like the Christmas songs I sing to him before he sleeps, the Grinch movie, the decorations and the red and green M&Ms.  I am completely enjoying the aspect of parenthood that lets us introduce him to the best time of year.  I feel like I always had perfect Christmases growing up and hope Juju feels the same way.
• I always turn into a law widow this time of year, which is probably the only reason I'm sitting here blogging.
• I'm starting to get nervous about my pre-baby To Do list.  I still need to paint the baby's room (which must unfortunately include the ceiling), but the furniture in there needs to be exiled first.  I can't participate in that, and as previously stated, my heavy lifter is working a lot.  I have 7 more kitchen drawers and 8 more cupboards to magnet-baby-proof during either naps or after Jude goes down for the night.  Usually during either one of those periods of time I want to sit and sip hot chocolate, but slowly it's getting done.  I emptied our junk drawers and am slowly going through it all, weeding out and organizing.  Do you see a theme of slowness here?  It's the way I roll these days.  
• Jeff is the worst with his own Christmas presents.  "Jeff, what do you want for Christmas?" "Nothing...maybe some socks."  Ridiculous.  
• If Kate and William have a daughter, I will spend the next 30 years trying to arrange a marriage between that little princess and one of my boys.  I love the royals, always have, always will.

And the oven timer is beeping at me now, telling me my granola bars are baked.  Pinterest flop or success -- I am about to find out.

Jude and his breakfast